It was a warm summer night, 7th July 2018 - Whelan’s Uxbridge. We met in the smoking area; it was all very romantic. We hit it off straight away, my first impression of Liam was he was really funny. Liam's first impression of me was “she’s attractive, I’ll give it a shot”. Liam asked me how old I thought he was, I guessed 30. He was 21...

Skip forward seven days… I meet Liam's whole family at Lisa’s 50th birthday (she requested we say 40th). To everyone’s surprise I did in fact exist. I instantly felt like part of the family, and I think that is largely to do with the fact I never turn down a drink…

Liam met my dad briefly crossing paths on our walk to the pub, dad was staggering home from the pub. Liam met my mum when he was invited into our house, she asked him many questions and probably offered to make him fajitas for dinner. Liam and Natalie met sometime between July and September (we can’t remember specifics), but she gave him the older sister stamp of approval.

We got to know each other’s friends and enjoyed many messy nights out and the odd semi-civilised dinner. Liam started to clock on that I was a bit feral, specifically after I fell through my parents decking after an absinthe incident. My dad even told me to stop getting so drunk because I would scare him off, but he obviously decided that was a minor flaw.

I’ve always been grateful that Liam and I spent the first half of our twenties growing and exploring together. We’ve been to Cornwall, Las Vegas, Lake District, Paris, Morocco, Prague, Devon, Fuerteventura, Venice, Rome & Corfu. If it wasn’t for lockdown, I’m sure there would have been many more.

On the 25th of March 2022 we made our most adult move as a couple and bought our flat. It was the best thing we decided to do as we love our little home, and it was a project for us to create together. On the 13th of July 2022 we welcomed our fur babies into our hearts. Liam became the ultimate cat dad to Klaus and Diego, and we became a little family.

5:15AM on 23rd of February 2023- Gatwick Airport. We were having a pint and a disappointing breakfast in the Wetherspoons, little did I know Liam had a surprise in store. We landed in Venice a few hours later and spent the whole day exploring and stopped every 10 minutes for an Aperol. When it came to dinner Liam had booked a beautiful Canalside table. As it was February it was pretty cold, but the red wine was helping. The owner of the restaurant decided to take a photo of us while we waited for dessert, which turned out to be a video. My Tiramisu I ordered arrived on a plate with “will you marry me?” written in chocolate. I burst into tears of disbelief and all Liam could say is “well?”. As overjoyed I was calling our nearest and dearest, I felt a bit cheated. Liam ate my desert as I was crying too much to eat it.

This year he took me back to our restaurant and I finally got to have my Tiramisu.